O Christ! it was a griefe to see, At last these two stout erles did meet, They fought untill they both did sweat, Until the blood, like drops of rain, "Yeeld thee, Lord Percy," Douglas sayd; Where thou shalt high advanced bee By James our Scottish king: Thy ransome I will freely give, Thou art the most couragious knight, "Noe, Douglas," quoth Erle Percy then, 66 Thy proffer I doe scorne; I will not yeelde to any Scott, That ever yett was borne." 130 135 140 145 150 With that, there came an arrow keene Which struck Erle Douglas to the heart. 155 Who never spake more words than these, For why, my life is at an end; Then leaving liffe, Erle Percy tooke And said, "Erle Douglas, for thy life 160 O Christ! my verry hart doth bleed A knight amongst the Scotts there was, Sir Hugh Mountgomery was he call'd, And past the English archers all, With such a vehement force and might So thus did both these nobles dye, He had a bow bent in his hand, An arrow of a cloth-yard long Against Sir Hugh Mountgomerye, The grey goose-winge that was thereon, This fight did last from breake of day, For when they rung the evening-bell,* With stout Erle Percy, there was slaine Sir Robert Ratcliff, and Sir John, And with Sir George and stout Sir James, Good Sir Ralph Raby there was slaine For Witherington needs must I wayle, 200 205 210 For when his leggs were smitten off, And with Erle Douglas, there was slaine Sir Charles Murray, that from the feeld 215 Sir Charles Murray, of Ratcliff, too, Sir David Lamb, so well esteem'd, And the Lord Maxwell in like case Of twenty hundred Scottish speres, Of fifteen hundred Englishmen, The rest were slaine in Chevy-Chase, Under the greene woode tree. 220 225 *Sc. the Curfew bell, usually rung at 8 o'clock, to which the moderniser apparently alludes, instead of the "Even-song Bell" or Bell for Vespers of the original author, before the Reformation. Vide supra, pag. 10, v. 97. For the surnames, see the notes at the end of the ballad. i. e. "I, as one in deep concern, must lament." The construction here has generally been misunderstood. The old MS. reads "wofull dumpes." Next day did many widdowes come, Their husbands to bewayle; They washt their wounds in brinish teares, Theyr bodyes bathed in purple gore, They kist them dead a thousand times, The newes was brought to Eddenborrow, "O, heavy newes," King James did say, I have not any captaine more Like tydings to King Henry came, Within as short a space, That Percy of Northumberland Was slaine in Chevy-Chese: "Now, God be with him," said our king, I trust I have, within my realme, Yett shall not Scotts, nor Scotland say, But I will vengeance take: I'll be revenged on them all, This vow full well the king perform'd In one day, fifty knights were slayne, And of the rest, of small account, Thus endeth the hunting of Chevy-Chase, 230 235 240 245 250 255 260 God save our king, and bless this land And grant henceforth, that foule debate 265 *** Since the former impression of these volumes hath been published, a new edition of "Collins's Peerage," 1779, &c. ix. Vols. 8vo. which contains, in Volume ii. p. 334, an historical passage, which may be thought to throw considerable light on the subject of the preceding ballad: viz. "In this year, 1436, according to Hector Boethius, was fought the Battle of Pepperden, not far from the Cheviot Hills, between the Earl of Northumberland [iid Earl, son of Hotspur,] and Earl William Douglas, of Angus, with a small army of about four thousand men each, in which the latter had the advantage. As this seems to have been a private conflict between these two great Chieftains of the borders, rather than a national war, it has been thought to have given rise to the celebrated old ballad of "Chevy Chace; which, to render it more pathetic and interesting, has been heightened with tragical incidents wholly fictitious." [See Ridpath's Border Hist. 4to. p. 401.] The surnames in the foregoing ballad are altered, either by accident or design, from the old original copy, and in common editions extremely corrupted. They are here rectified as much as they could be. Thus, Pag. 207. Ver. 202. Egerton.] This name is restored (instead of Ogerton, com. Ed.) from the editor's folio MS. The pieces in that MS. appear to have been collected, and many of them composed (among which might be this ballad) by an inhabitant of Cheshire; who was willing to pay a compliment here to one of his countrymen, of the eminent family De or Of Egerton (so the name was first written) ancestors of the present Duke of Bridgwater: and this he could do with the more propriety, as the Percies had formerly great interest in that county: at the fatal battle of Shrewsbury all the flower of the Cheshire gentlemen lost their lives fighting in the cause of Hotspur. Ver. 203. Ratcliff.] This was a family much distinguished in Northumberland. Edw. Radcliffe, mil. was sheriff of that county in 17 of Hen. VII. and others of the same surname afterwards. (See Fuller, p. 313.) Sir George Ratcliff, Knt. was one of the commissioners of inclosure in 1552. (See Nicholson, p. 330.) Of this family was the late Earl of Derwentwater, who was beheaded in 1715. The editor's folio MS. however, reads here, "Sir Robert Harcliffe and Sir William." The Harcleys were an eminent family in Cumberland. See Fuller, p. 224. Whether this may be thought to be the same name, I do not determine. Ver. 204. Barron.] This is apparently altered, (not to say corrupted) from Hearone, in p. 11, ver. 114. |